Get It In Writing

SEATTLE – Karrie Keyes, who has been mixing monitors since 1991, opted for a Midas PRO6 console supplied by Rat Sound for the band's 2010 tour in support of its Backspacer album. This represented a change for Keyes, a longtime devotee of Midas' Heritage desk and other analog consoles.
This is the first tour I
have used a PRO6 on, she said. I found it extremely easy to learn, and felt
comfortable on it after the first show.

Between in-ears, sidefills
and wedges for six band members and three members of the tech crew, Keyes
describes her utilization of the 32 outputs on the PRO6 as nearly maxed out. I
am using 29 outs now and have three left, which I will fill up on this next
(European) leg.

Several band members augment
their stereo in-ear mixes with wedges and sidefills. Vocalist Eddie Vedder's
setup is described as one ear, vocal wedge mix, stereo sides, plus mono
sidefill for vocal – with another channel available should Vedder decide to
use earphones in both ears.

In terms of setup and
routing, Keyes says the PRO6 handles this relatively complex set-up with ease.
I really love that the matrixes are actually just straight outs. I have the
in-ears on the matrixes and my wedges and sidefills on the Aux Sends, she
said.

The adjustment to using a
digital console was simplified by Midas' analog-style design layout and the
PRO6's flexibility. The key to mixing monitors for Pearl Jam is keeping my
eyes on Ed and the band the entire show, said Keyes. Pearl Jam has a lot of
cues, but they are not scene cues that can be programmed. They are mostly EQ
and volume changes, and a lot of them are for more than one person at the same
time. So I needed to get these cues to the surface easily, not having to look,
scroll, or search through layers. With the PRO6, I have everything I need on
the surface at the push of a button. That's hugely important to me.

Keyes uses a combination of
VCAs and the PRO6's POP Groups to keep everything she needs accessible. I use
POP Groups for certain songs, to put the instruments on the surface for access
to the mute and fader, she said. But I mainly use the VCAs, set up by band
member, with a couple more for riding gain on guitar solos and such.

For channel equalization, she
is using the Klark-Teknik DN9331 Rapide graphic controller, a rack-mountable
PRO6 accessory that gives her a traditional 31-band surface for dialing in the
console's on-board KT graphic EQs.

The sound is great, Keyes
said, of the PRO6. In the past, we have not been able to get Ed [Vedder] on a
digital because of the sound, but he has been on the PRO6 with no issues. We
have found no issues with latency, and the band loves the sound.

Keyes' experience with the
PRO6 has proven to be relatively painless, too. There are lots of little
things that let me know this product was really thought through when Midas
designed it, she said. The video screens are wonderful. I can see them even
in the sun, but they are not distracting either. She also notes that her setup
time is much faster when working with the PRO6, attributable in part to
eliminating the 500 feet of cable required for the analog console – now handled
with a single Cat5 cable.

For the European leg of the
2010 tour, Keyes also specified a PRO6. I felt pretty comfortable with it
after the first show, she said, and the factory support from Midas is
amazing. The main thing for me was learning how to get it to act as an analog
console, and I'm happy to report that the PRO6 can do that with ease. After one
tour, it's already like I have always mixed on it.

For more information, please
visit www.midasconsoles.com (http://www.midasconsoles.com/).

Source: Pearl Jam Goes Digital but Stays with Midas